THE HOUSE OF GOD IN ASHES: 


A 


SERMON, 


PREACHED 
IN ST. MECHAEL’S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, 


BEFORE 


THE CONGREGATION OF ST. PHILIP'S, 
ON 
ERIDAY, FEBRUARY 20th, 1835; 
A DAY SET APART FOR 
RELIGIOUS REFLECTION, HUMILIATION AND PRAYER, 


IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE 


Destruction of their Church by Fire. 


By DANIEL COBIA, 


Assistant Minister of St. Philip’s Church. 


PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE VESTRY. 


Charleston: 
PRINTED BY A. E. MILLER, 
No. 4 Broad-st. 


1835. 


ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, 


WAS COMMENCED, A. D. 1711. 
FIRST USED FOR WORSHIP, A. D. 1723. 
COMPLETED, A.D. 1733. 
DESTROYED BY FIRE, 
FEB. 15, A.D. 1835. 


Oh Salem, our once happy seat! 
When I of thee forgetful prove, 
Let then my trembling hand forget — 
The speaking strings, with art to move! 


If I to mention thee forbear, 
Eternal silence seize my tongue; 
Or if I sing one cheerful air, 
Till thy deliverance is my song! 


4 5 
ot ne O48 bet ) 1 


ee Oe aS 


ee 
5 
Hogi OF Fl 


4 


* 


By 


N, eb 
ee’ 
wv ¥ 


SERMON. 


ISAIAM, LXIV. LI]. 


‘OUR HOLY, AND OUR BEAUTIFUL HOUSE, WHERE OUR PATHERS PRAISED 
THEE, IS BURNED UP WITH FIRE.”’ 


Sucu, Brethren, is the calamity which we have experi- 
enced, and such the lamentation which we have assembled 
to-day for the purpose of sending up to God. The prophet 
recounting the sorrows of the captive Israelites, has employ- 
ed language affectingly descriptive of our own condition. 
The words of the text had an emphasis of meaning, as they 
came from the lips of a Jew, sitting and weeping by the 
waters of Babylon, brooding with painful recollection over 
his country’s desolations. His heart might well burst with 
emotion, as he thought on the towers and palaces, which 
once rose with such sacred and stately magnificence upon 
Zion’s hill, and rendered Jerusalem, by all their delight- 
ful and consecrated associations, the object of his ardent 
affection, the city of his joy,—as he thought on them, now 
no longer bright and glorious to the eye of the beholder, but 
desolated and inashes. ‘The temple at Jerusalem had been 
worthy of his love. The loftiest monument—the preudest 
trophy of his country’s past prosperity—of the piety of his 
ancestors—of the peculiar favour and presence of his God, 
associations the most sacred clustered around its every court 
—its every tower. Age after age had the nations admir- 
ed the grandeur of its costly architecture, and his com- 
patriots triumphed in its possession as their noblest 
inheritance. Age after age had the daily incense ascended 


6 


up to heaven from its consecrated enclosures, and the visible 
symbols of Jehovah’s presence been preserved within its 
sanctuary. Age after age had his fathers gone thither to 
worship, greeting with joyous response the trumpet’s sound, 
which called them to its courts, to offer the sacrifices of 
thanksgiving, and to invoke the blessing of the God of 
Abraham. The narrative of its erection furnished his 
country’s history with its brightest page ; the rehearsal of its 
praises supplied a theme for his loftiest and most enraptured 
song. And now that temple was in ashes. From the land 
of his captivity he could not transport himself in imagination 
within its sacred precints, and find an alleviation of his own 
distress in the comfortable assurance that the house of God 
was safe. His personal sorrows were heightened to a new 
and yet more painful intensity by the remembrauice that this 
monument of former greatness, this hallowed and time-ho- 
noured scene of his devotion, had been given up to the ray- 
ages of the devouring flame. He hung his harp upon the 
willows, and in a strain of unbroken lamentation, poured 
fourth the fulness of his heart to God. ‘ Be not wroth very 
sore, O Lord! neither remember iniquity for ever; behold! see, 
we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a 
twilderness; Zion is a wilderness ; Jerusalem a desolation. Our 
holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, as 
burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.” 

There is an affecting sanctity in such grief as this, my 
Brethren, which warrants its indulgence, and gives it even 
for its own sake a claim upon our sympathy. ‘There may 
have been a selfish pride, and an overweening attachment 
in the heart of the Israelite for the temple at Jerusalem. 
From being the heaven-selected scene of his devotion, it 
may have become the object of his idolatry. But there was, 
in his affection for that holy place, too near an alliance to 
the sentiment of piety to give to his sorrow a claim to aught 
else than our respect and our condolence. It was the house 
of the Lord his God—his holy, beautiful, venerable house ; 


7 


and he did well to lament, when it was laid in ruins. We, 
however, need not be reminded of his claims upon our sym- 
pathy. The choice—the ability, is not left us to withhold it, 
for we, alas! are called to be partakers of his sad calamity. 
Like him, we had an house, holy and beautiful, wherein 
our fathers worshipped. Like him, the thought of that house 
was associated in our hearts with all our best, and holiest, 
and most cherished emotions. Like him, it was the object 
of our most delighted gaze; the subject of our loudest, fond- 
est, most untiring eulogy. Like him, we have been called 
to behold it, all holy and beautiful and venerable as it was, 
burned up with fire. Like him, the calamity has brought 
us afflicted and humbled into the presence of our God. And 
may God, indeed, be found of us, whilst in this hour of our 
distréss we seek him with the accents of earnest supplica- 
tion! ~— * ; 3 

It would be at once to insult and to trifle with your feel- 
ings, Brethren, should I enter at large into a consideration 
of the calamity which God in his wisdom. has called us te 
sustain. As Christians, we cannot fail to regard it as a visi- 
tation from his hand. It is not for us to determine whether 
it be sent on us as a judgment for our past unfaithfulness, or 
for the present trial and exercise of our faith. Whatever 
in the counsel of God-may be its occasion and its purpose, 
the sympathy of the whole community is with us, whilst 
we feel and acknowledge that the calamity is great. We, 
Brethren of the Congregation, are the more immediate suf- 
ferers ; but there is not an mdividual who does not realize 
that we are called to lament, not for a private, but a public 
loss. All felt that they possessed a common interest in that 
venerable edifice, whose mouldering ruins stand yet before 
us, bearing upon them the affecting traces of its former 
beauty. It was dear to the patriot; for it was full of the 
choicest associations connected with the history of his coun- 
try’s freedom, and its monumental marble bore many a re- 
cord of the worth of those, whose talents, and virtues, and 


8 


efforts threw over the days of her infancy so bright a lustre. 
It was dear to the Christian of every name ; for it stood an 
ancient monument of some of the first and noblest efforts 
which were made to give to the Gospel of Jesus an abiding 
habitation in our land; its walls had echoed the voices of 
some of the earliest and most faithful Missionaries who came 
to our shores with the tidings of salvation. But to the child- 
ren of the Church, it was doubly, indescribably dear. ‘There 
slept the dust of those, who for six score years had lived and 
died in the possession of a common faith and hope, had 
joined in the same sublime devotions, listened to the same 
inspired instructions, and at the same altar feasted on the 
memorials of the same redeemer’s love. There amidst the 
tombs of their fathers, walking in the way in. which their 
fathers trod, they were accustomed to bow themselves with 
reverence before the God their fathers worshipped. They 
felt it to he holy ground. It was a memorial of the parental 
care of the Church from which their fathers sprung, and 
of the fidelity of. her children inthe maintenance and pre- 
servation of the faith. There in infancy they had been 
consecrated to God in Holy Baptism. There in childhood, 
they had gathered a happy group around the man of God, 
to be taught the privileges and the obligations connected 
with the Christian name. There in youth, in the presence 
of God, and angels, and men, they had sworn allegiance 
from their hearts for time and for eternity, to their Re- 
deemer and their Lord. There the dearest of all their 
earthly bonds had been sealed. And there had they gather- 
ed around the remains of those they loved, and wept, 
and prayed, before they consigned them to the silence of 
the tomb. All these holy associations are now, my Brethren, 
in the recollections of the past. And we are now without 
atemple, in which we may meet together as aforetime for 
the worship of our God. The idea of our loss is joined 
with the anticipation of the inconveniences and privations, 
to which we must of necessity for a season be subjected. 


9 


There is but one sentiment amongst us, that our calamity 
is great. Let us humbly endeavour in dependance on God’s 
blessing, to improve the visitation to our spiritual good! 
THE SPIRIT it should lead us to exercise— 
TuE Duties to which it especially calls ux— 
will furnish appropriate and profitable subjects of reflection. 


I. What then, is THE Spirit which it becomes us to exercise 
under this afflicting visitation ? 

None can doubt for a moment, that it calls for a spirit of 
cheerful submission to the will of God. -We may not question 
that it is a dispensation of his Providence; and the dispen- 
sations of his Providence, dark as they may be, and inscru- 
table to us alike as to their occasion and their final purpose, 
reason, experience and scripture unite in assuring us, are 
regulated always by infinite wisdom and infinite benevo- 
lence. We may wonder at hisdoings: in mute amazement 
our ignorance and dim short-sightedness may stand confoun- 
ded at the contemplation of the way he takes; but still 
‘the Lord ws King: “he doeth according to his will amidst the 
armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, and 
none can stay his hand, .or say unto him, what doest thou?” It 
is unbelief to question for a moment the correctness-of his 
proceedings; it is base ingratitude to doubt for a moment 
the mercy and goodness which prompt and regulate his 
every act: By his word and his works we know enough of 
the benevolence, which he claims as his glorious and darl- 
ing attribute; and knowing this—knowing too, that he is a 
God who changeth not, who regulates all his dispensations 
by principles fixed and immutable as his own character ;~ 
we are wholly imexcusable, if in the darkest hour, we 
do join with Eli in the language of devout submission— 
** It ws the Lord, let him do unto me what seemeth him good.” 
There might be room for discontent-—there might be an 
excuse for murmuring, if with the blind credulity of the 


infidel we could believe, that the Creator has left all things 
2 


10 


to the jeopardy of chance, or contented himself with barely 
exercising over his. creation a general superintendence. 
But the judicious and reflecting observer of what passes 
upon earth, cannot failto discover the hand of God regulat- 
ing the minutest as well as the most prominent event. And 
what saith the Scripture? ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a 
farthing? and not one of them shall fall to the ground without 
your father. But the very havrs of your head are all numbered. 
Fear ye not, therefore; ye are of more value than many spar- 
rows.” The argument for cheerful submission then, is as 
simple as it is conclusive. The character of God—the 
connection of God’s providence with every event which 
befalls us, whether private or public, whether affecting our 
individual or our social interests, alike convince us that the 
exercise of that spirit of submission is as reasonable as it is 
obligatory. In the application of that argument to ourselves 
I need not speak. God in his providence has visited us 
grievously; but still it is God; it is he who hath made us, 
whose people we are, and the sheep of his pasture. And 
even though we may not discover the immediate purpose 
for which it has been suffered to befall us, yet it is the part 
of the Christian to realize that there is ‘‘a needs be,” even 
for this sad calamity, and that it is alike his interest and 
duty to listen to the voice which says to him— Be still; 
and know that Tam God.” If you would profit then, Bre- 
thren, by this visitation of his hand, cherish, I beseech you, 
this spirit of cheerful submission to his sovereign will! 

But we may not rest here. ‘The Christian must feel, that 
the spirit whose exercise this calamity requires, 1s @ spirit 
also of penitent humiliation. Severe as it may be, we ought 
not to escape from the conviction that we deserved the stroke. 
“* In the time; of adversity, consider.” If we are yielding our- 
selves at all to the inquiry, why that stroke has been inflicted 
—are we not bound to examine whether the cause may not 
be found in the history of our own unfaithfulness? If God 
has designed to bring us by this calamity to the recollection 


11 


of our sins, can we safely neglect to listen to the voice of 
solemn admonition? Even though it be not a judgment, 
and no more than an act of salutary discipline, yet may we 
not refuse to.call to remembrance how greatly we deserved 
the visitation. If the ashes of that ruined temple could 
speak, or if voice were given to its now desolated walls, 
what a testimony might they not urge against us of ingra- 
titude and unfaithfulness? ‘There. we enjoyed privileges 
numerous and inestimable ; but how did we value them, and 
‘to what extent were they improved? There was the house 
of God; but didat prove tous the gate of heaven? ‘There 
was the altar of God; but did we encompass that altar with 
the sacrifices of devout thanksgiving? There stood the 
Minister of God; but did the tidings of salvation which he 
there proclaimed prove to. our. souls the savour of life unto 
lifer There we were consecrated to God’s service; but 
what allegiance have we rendered to him, and how have 
we lived’to the glory of his name? ‘There were we conti- 
nually imvited in the language of sublime devotion to lift up 
our hearts; but was ours the incense of a spiritual devotion, 
and did we never content ourselves with the service of the 
lips? There the Spirit of Grace hovered in love over the 
holy convocation ; but did not the obstinate indifference of some 
compel him to exclaim, as Jesus of old to the inhabitants of 
Palestine—“ Oh! Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would Ihave 
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her brood 
under her wings, and ye would not 2’ May not that indiffer- 
ence have been to us as to them, the occasion of the sen- 
tence—‘ Behold! your house 1s left unto you desolate !’—The 
recollection of the past, even with the most faithful amongst 
us, must be crowded with acts of omission, with the neglect 
at least, if not with the actual abuse, of these peculiar and 
inestimable privileges. And surely, Brethren, now that 
God has been pleased by this painful visitation, to call our | 
Ways to remembrance, it becomes us in view of the past to 
exercise a spirit of deep and penitent humiliation. ~ Con- 


_trasting the blessings which we have enjoyed within the 
precints of that ruined sanctuary, with the manner in which 
we have received, and improved them, we may, indeed, 
exclaim— Righteousness belongeth unto thee, O Lord! but 
unto us shame and confusion of face.’ In the possession of 
such blessings, to what a height of Christian excellence 
should not our characters have been advanced? What a 
flood of spiritual light should there not have been poured 
forth from the worshippers in that temple upon a world 
which lieth in wickedness? And how, have we met the 
responsibility in which our mercies involved us? . “* Humble 
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.” 

Once more. © The dispensation we deplore should be met — 
in the exercise of a spirit of confiding faith. Our interests 
are still the object of His care, who has blessed us hitherto 
with such abundant blessings. The recollection of all his 
former mercies, whilst it fills our hearts with gratitude} 
should prompt us to repose on him for the future our unhe- 
sitating trust. Events like that which now occupies our 
thoughts, teach us the vanity of placing on any other than 
him our confidence and hope. ‘There is nothing on earth 
which is worth of our reliance; there is nothing which can 
endure uninjured the shocks of time, or escape from the 
calamities to which in the. providence of God all earthly 
things are subject. But ‘ they that trust wm the Lord shall be 
even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for 
ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, even so rs 
the Lord round about his people, from this tume forth for ever 
more.’ ‘¢ Trust ye in the Lord for ever ; for in the Lord Jeho- 
vah is everlasting strength.” Tt is the Church of God, which 
is suffering; itis the temple of God, which is made deso- 
late, and the altar of God, which has been thrown down ; 
and it is for this—for this chiefly, Christian Brethren, that 
we are called to mourn. But consider, and be com- 
forted and animated by the consideration, that it is God 
himself, who has given us the assurance of his continual 
protection—it is God, who has invited us to repose on him, 


13 


our trust. Itis the Lord who is the head, and the pre- 
server of his Church—who has promised to keep her as the 
apple of his eye—who has said that he has graven her 
upon the palms of his hands. His temple may be in ruins; 
but the Lord still reigneth; still he offers himself to be the 
portion ofhis people. The Church which he hath purchased 
with his own precious blood, though she be driven into the wil- 
deruess, and spoiled of all her beauteous apparel, shall still be 
the object of his tenderest love. ‘ Can a woman forget her 
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of 
her womb? yea’ —saith the Lord—* they may forget, yet will 
I not forget thee.” “ For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; 
but with great mercies will I gather thee. In alittle wrath I hid 
my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness 
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer.” 
Cheered by such promises as these, my Brethren, even in 
this dark hour we may lift up our eyes to God in a spirit of 
confident and joyful faith. We may be afflicted, but we are 
not forsaken; we may be cast down, but we are not des- 
troyed. ‘The spiritual Zion still stands secure, guarded by 
God’s omnipotence and Christ’s unchanging love; and casting 
our.cares on him, trusting that He who has smitten will also 
bind us up, we may proceed to the performance of the duties, 
which in this season of our calamity especially demand our 
care. 


Il. WHAT ARE THOSE Duties? This 2s the second topie 
proposed for your consideration. 

First in order, and not the least in its importance, is a 
steadfast adherence to the faith and the principles which we have 
hitherto professed. 'The change to which our outward circum- 
stances have been subjected should produce no change in our 
attachment to the Church. Her claims on our confidence 
and affections are too durable to be affected by any accident 
of time. The storm of affliction instead of sweeping us 
away, should only serve to exhibit the strength of our foun- 


14. 


dations. But in this hour of calamity the nature and extent 
of our affection must be tried. It is at.such a time as this, 
that the question must be settled, whether our fondness for 
the institutions which our fathers loved and. cherished, is 
the result of accident or of choice—whether it has sprung 
out of a regard for personal convenience, or whether its 
origin may be traced to a deep and abiding principle. Now 
that Zion is despoiled of her towers and palaces, we may 
determine how much of the affection we bore to her arose 
purely and simply from the love of God. Now, then, if 
ever, duty demands of us a steadfast adherence to our 
principles and our faith. Now that there is little remaining 
save our principles and our faith to bind our hearts toge- 
ther, it becomes us especially to prove that we feel the 
strength of those enduring bonds. Now it becomes us to 
bear explicit testimony, because now more than ever, that 
testimony will be received—that our attachment to the insti- 
tutions which we have hitherto supported, is not prejudiced 
but rational; that it springs out of an estimate of their own 
intrinsic excellence, and a just and holy regard for the 
authority of God. And shall we not doit, Brethren? Shall 
one be found wanting in a cause so noble? Hold fast, then, — 
I beseech you, the profession of your faith without waver- 
ing. Being knit together in principle, there will soon be an 
unity of feeling and of effort. And building yourselves up 
on your most holy faith, the Lord. of Hosts himself will be 
in the midst of you, and will not withhold his blessing. 

The occasion should lead us also to a diligent attendance on 
the means of grace, under whatever circumstances we may be sper- 
mitted to enjoy them. 'The delightful associations which have 
been hitherto connected with an attendance on these means, 
we shall no longer experience. _ That venerable edifice 
which was wont to cast a new solemnity over the solemn 
worship of the Lord most high, shall no longer be the scene 
of our devotions, or echo the tidings of salvation from the 
lips of Christ’s ambassadors. Long time must elapse ere 


15 


another shall have been reared on its foundation, and when 
it has been erected, it will not, it cannot be as the first. But 
ere the top-stone has been laid on it, we, my Brethren, may 
have been called to our account. We know not what a 
day may bring forth; and whilst the present still is ours, 
let me urge you to the faithful improvement of the opportu- 
nities we still possess. The House of God has fallen, but we 
still have the Gospel, and all the ordinances of our heaven- 
born faith, which gave that house its sanctity, and rendered 
it the vestibule of heaven. The privileges which are grant- 
ed us have lost nothing of their value, though stripped of 
the circumstances under which we have hitherto delighted 
to enjoy them. God stillis the hearer of prayer; and the 
sacrifice of praise he still receives as an acceptable oblation. 
The Ministers of the Cross will still-be near you, with the 
waters of Baptism, and the memorials of Christ’s redeem- 
ing love. The word of God will still be read; and the 
Gospel of Jesus still sounded in your ears, and still proved 
as ever, to be the power of God unto salvation. Whatever 
the circumstances under which these privileges shall be 
enjoyed, they are in themselves inestimable; their faithful 
improvement ‘will conduce by the blessing of the Holy 
Ghost to the salvation of your souls; their neglect or abuse 
will only involve them in an aggravated condemnation. 
Oh! my Brethren, if you have never realized their value— 
if you have never improved them—improve them now. 
Now they stand before you in all their naked excellence : 
begin now to regard them as you ought, as possessing in 
themselves an unspeakable value, and employ them to the 
end for which they are given you by God. If you have 
hitherto been satisfied with walking in the way your fathers 
walked, and occupying the places which your fathers occu- 
pied, rest there no longer. The holy House, where our 
fathers worshipped, is in ruins; but, blessed be Ged! we 
worship one who dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 
and we may still set up our tabernacle; and God may still 


i6 


be with us, and pour down on us his blessing! Wherever 
that tabernacle is set up, there let us meet together—there let 
us worship—there let us celebrate a Saviour’s love—there 
let us listen to the heavenly message. Let us begin to value 
these things for their own sakes, and to value them the more, 
as being all that now remains to us. My Brethren, suffer 
me to urge this the most earnestly, as it is this which presses 
with a double weight of anxiety on us, who in the provi- 
dence of God are set as the watchmen of your souls. We 
share in the calamity which you have-suffered, and in the 
grief which it has occasioned, you have our largest sympa- 
thy. Butthe regret for the loss, which we experience, is 
heightened by another and.a greater care. We are set 
to watch for your souls, and we fear the effect which 
may attend on this calamity by withdrawing you in 
some degree, at least, from our instructions and our efforts. 
We feel that one strong link has been broken, which has 
kept you together as a common household. We can no 
longer invite you to that venerable sanctuary, which of itself 
attracted you to worship in its courts. We can only appeal 
to you now by your sense of the value of your religious 
privileges, of the infinite importance of your soul’s salvation. 
But we would urge that appeal with all the earnestness, 
which a love for yourselves, anda concern for the welfare 
of the cause of Christ can give. For your own sakes—for 
Christ’s sake, neglect not, we beseech you, the instituted 
means of grace—neglect not the Gospel of God’s blessed Son. 
In your attendance on them hereafter, we know that you — 
will be subjected to a degree of inconvenience—an inconve- 
nience which you will experience more sensibly, because it 
will contrast so directly with all your former privileges. 
But as you have a God to glorify—a Lord to serve—as you 
have souls to be saved, and an account to render at the day 
-. of judgment, I beseech you, Brethren, let the inconvenience 
and sacrifice be what it may, neglect not the faithful 
improvement of all your means of grace. Let not your 


17 
absence from the worship of God, and the preaching of his 
word, countenance and encourage the indifference of others, 
and sadden the hearts and paralyze the efforts of those, 
whose very love for your souls fills them already with the 
most anxious care. 

Another duty to which the occasion calls tis, is the mani- 
festation of an umty of feeling, and a zealous co-operation in 
every effort to promote the interests of our Congregation, and to 
restore our ruined edifice. fever a harmony of feeling and 
of action was necessary, surely itisnow. Ifever Jerusalem 
had need to be a city at unity with itself, surely that need 
exists amongst ourselves. God be praised, that in this par- 
ticular we have little cause for apprehension! But if bro- 
therly love exists, let us by united efforts effectually resolve, 
that brotherly love continue. ‘The occasion demands that 
each should exert himself to the utmost in the zealous 
promotion of the common cause. In the princely munifi- 
cence of a former generation we have long participated ; 
and their example has charged us with a debt to posterity, 
which the providence of God has called us now to pay; and 
who will withhold the tribute of gratitude for the past, and 
pious interest for the welfare of the future? Who-will not 
be ready, even at the sacrifice of personal comfort, and 
personal convenience to give his heart and his hand to a 
cause so sacred, so noble, and so dear? ‘Take for a pattern, 
my Brethren, the zeal of Israel of old, their personal labours, 
their unbounded liberality, when their temple was to be 
built, or when, after its destruction, it was again to be reared 
upon its broad foundations. Be your conduct excited by 
their stimulating example! As your voices have been 
united in the worship of our God, so let your efforts be now 
united in rearing a lasting monument to the glory of his 
name. With such a spirit and such a resolution, it shall 
not be long, ere that sacred edifice shall once again be rear- 
ed—ere the voice of thanksgiving shall again resound within 
its walls—ere you shall kneel again around an altar 


. 


y 
(2 4 


18 


which yousmay call your own,—and listen again each i 
his own accustomed place, to the joyful message of Christ’s 
great salvation. Who will not be animated by the prospect, 
to zealous and vigorous exertion? | Who that loves the cause 
of Christ—who that loves the Church, the appointed in- 
strument by which that cause must be promoted—who that 
mourns over the loss which we have now sustained, will 
not cheerfully sacrifice every private consideration to further 
the attainment of so great a good? 

But above all things, Brethren, the occasion demands our 
urgent and unportunate supplreations for the help of God. It is 
in this season of darkness and distress, that we are made to 
feel most sensibly our need of his assistance. Now that he 
has hunabled us, it is time for us to seek him. Now that he 
has spoiled us of our earthly pride and confidence, it is time 
for us to draw near to him, and to make the Lord our trust. 
If it be so that he has dealt with us in anger, it is ours by the 
earnestness of our petitions toavert his wrath. If it be our 
unfaithfulness and ingratitude, which has brought down the 
judgment, it is time for us to acknowledge our transgressions, 
and to implore through the merits of Jesus, the timely exer- 
cise of his forgiving mercy. If it be simply for the trial of 
our faith, to wean us from earthly confidences, and to call 
us to the exercise of Christian grace—we have yet need to 
pray, that strength may be given us to bear the trial, that 
we may be enabled to receive and to profit by the whole- 
some discipline. Whatever be the occasion and the purpose 
of the visitation, it should lead us with one consent to the 
merey-seatof God. It is there and there only that we may 
convert the affliction toa blessing. It is there, by our urgent 
and believing supplications, that we may call forth a display 

his loving-kindness and his power, which shall more 
than compensate for our every loss. The spirit of submis- 
sion to his sovereign will—the spirit of humiliation for our 
past untaithfulness—the spirit of faith in his most gracious 
promises—all lead our footsteps to his throne of grace. It 


19 


will be vain for us to hold tenaciously to the principles which 
we have professed—it will be vain to attend with the most 
scrupulous regularity on all the means of grace—it will be 
vain with the most costly liberality to rebuild the House of 
God—unless we do it in dependence on his help, without 
whom we can do nothing—and from whom proceedeth 
‘every good and perfect gift.” When his temple was in 
ashes, ard his nation all in exile, the Israelite felt that the 
Lord alone could be his refuge; and when he poured out 
befere him the fulness of his troubled soul, he. was heard and 
delivered. Let us be influenced, my Brethren, by his ex- 
ample. In the midst of calamity, let us join with the pro- 
phet, in expressing the sorrows of his heart to God. We 
have need to obtain, and if we will but ask it, we have a 
right toexpect from him a special blessing. We shall have 
earthly discouragements; but let us seek the more earnestly 
for comfort from above. We shall have a thousand temp- 
tations to faint and be weary; let us press with. more rest- 
less importunity our plea for God’s assistance. We can 
boast no longer of the distinction which we have hitherto 
enjoyed, as the worshippers in that beautiful and ancient 
edifice, the pride of our community, the honour of our State ; 
let us obtain through the merits of Christ by our pleadings 
at the mercy-seat, a distinction still more honourable, and of 
incomparably greater value—the distinction .of being the 
special and the favoured objects of God’s enlivening and 
sanctifying grace. | 
Brethren of the Congregation! let me summon you to 
prayer. The calamity we suffer speaks to you from God, 
and calls you to urgent and believing prayer, with a voice 
too loud to be unneeded, too: plain, to be misunderstood. 
Pray for yourselves—for pardoning, sanctifying; strengthen- 
ing grace. Devote yourselves henceforward more heartily 
than ever, to the service of your God—the God who claims 
you for hisown, who has blessed you so long, and. is still 
waiting to be gracious; but pray that the blood of his Son 


20 


may wash out your past offences, and that his Spirit may 
assist you in the fulfilment of your holy resolutions. Pray 
for your Ministers—they need your prayers. Without those 
prayers, and the blessing which will follow them, their 
planting and watering will be alike in vain. In this hour 
of darkness they need more than ever the consolation and 
succour of the Holy Ghost; your prayers must bring it, 
Now more than ever, they need to be faithful in duty and 
diligent in their exertions. From your sympathy and inter- 
cessions they must obtain the strength. ‘Brethren pray 
for us.” It is the command of an Apostle; but it comes 
home to you now, with all the affecting impressiveness with 
which a community of sorrow can invest it. Pray also for 
those who are connected with yourselves in this household of faith. 
Pray that a blessing from God may reach the hearts of all. 
We have the means of salvation still abundantly supplied te 
us; and oh! my Brethren, if you will but pray for it, the 
Spirit’s sacred influences may invest those means with such 
an heavenly power, that Christ may indeed be glorified 
amongst us, and that not one who partakes of them shall 
fail of life eternal. And who then, that has the heart ofa 
Christian will withhold from it his best—his most ardent— 
his untiring supplications ? 

There is not, perhaps, an individual amongst us, who has 
stood by yonder ruins, that has not felt by anticipation what 
the Israelite experienced in laying the foundation of the 
second Temple. ‘They that had seen the first house wept 
with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was 
laid, so great was the contrast—so impossible was it for the 
second to rival the grandeur and beauty which the first dis- 
played. And yet it was predicted, that the glory of the 
latter house should be greater than the former: and the 
prediction was fulfilled. The first Temple was glorious in 
its magnificence, and it was honoured with the symbols of 
Jehovah’s presence; the second displayed but little compa-_ 
ratively of earthly decoration; but within its courts the in- 


ZA 


carnate Jehovah was himself beheld. So may it be with 
ours ; so, Brethren, let us resolve by our prayers to God to 
make it! We may not replace the memorials of a former 
age, nor restore in its beauty the monumental marble which 
adorned its walls; but we may do it a higher and a nobler 
service; we may call down upon it the special blessing of 
the Lord most high; we may fill it with the living, speaking 
monuments of God’s subduing grace ; we may invoke the 
Almighty to make it his constant and his choice abode; we 
may draw on it from the fountain of celestial day so plente- 
ous a flood of spiritual light, as shall cause it to shine forth 
to the glory of the Lord, and to pour out abundantly its 
gladdening beams for the life and salvation of a world of 
darkness! We need not wait, my Brethren, for the coming 
of that day, until we have rebuilt our fallen temple. Even 
now the call is addressed to. us, to seek unto the Lord and 
‘to secure the blessing. ‘‘ Awake, awake, put on thy strength, 
oh Lion! shake thyself from the dust, arise, and sit down, oh 
Jerusalem ! loose thyself from the bands of the neck, oh captive 
daughter of Zion! For thus saith the Lord—ye have sold 
yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money. 
Break forth into joy; sing together, ye waste places of Jerusa- 
lem! for the Lord hath comforted his people—he hath redeemed 
Jerusalem,” 


NOTE. 


ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH. 


The following accurate and finished Description is extracted from 
Mills Statistics of South-Carolina, pp. 404-5. 


“St. Philip’s Church (built of brick and stoccoed to resemble stone) 
exhibits more of design in its arrangement than any other of our ancient 
buildings erected here. The site is a little above Queen-street, and look- 
ing directly down Church-street. The general outline of the plan 
presents the form of a cross, the foot of which, constituting the nave, is 
seventy-four feet long and sixty-two feet wide. The arms form the 
vestibule, tower, and porticoes at each end, projecting twelve feet beyond 
the sides, ¢»4 surmounted by a pediment. The head of the cross is a 
portico of four massy square pillars, (intercolumniated with arches,) 
surmounted with their regular entablature and crowned with a pediment. 
Over this portico, and behind it, rise two sections of an octagon tower, (the 
lower containing the bell, the upper the clock) crowned with a dome, 
and quadrangular lanthorn and vane. The height of this tower entire, 
with its basement, is 113 feet. The sides of this edifice are ornamented 
with a series of pilasters of the same order with the portico columns, 
(which are Tuscan,) each of the spaces pierced with a single lofty aper- 
iure asa window. ‘The roof is partially hid by a balustrade which runs 
yound it. 

The interior of this Church in its whole length, presents an elevation 
of a lofty double arcade, supporting upon an entablature, a vaulted ceil- 
ing in the middle. The piers are ornamented with fluted Corinthian 
pilasters rising to the top of the arches, the key stones of these arches are 
sculptured with a cherubim in relief; over the centre arch, on the south 
side, are some figures in heraldic form, representing the infant colony 
imploring the protection of the king. Beneath the figures is this inscrip- 
tion:—Propius res aspice ne°iras : (which has been adopted as the motto 
of the seal of the Church.)’ Over the middle arch, on the north side, is 
this inscription: Deus mihi Sol, with armorial bearings. The pillars are 
‘now ornamented on their face with beautiful pieces of monumental sculp- 
ture, some of them with bass-relief, and some with full figures, finely 
executed by the first artists in England and this country. 


“At the end of the nave is the chancel, (within the body however of 
the Church,) and at the West end is the organ, which is an ancient piece 
of furniture imported from England, and which had been used at the 
coronation of George the Second.* 

‘* The galleries were added some time subsequent to the building of the 
Church. It is to be regretted that the steeple of this venerable edifice 
was not furnished with its spire, as was evidently at first intended; and 
that the interior grandeur of its massy arcades has been disturbed by 
the introduction of galleries, which never constituted a part of the original 
design. 

*« The effect produced upon the mind in viewing this edifice is that of 
solemnity and awe, from its massy character: when you enter under its 
roof, the lofty arches, porticoes, arcades, and pillars which support it, cast 
a sombre shade over the whole interior, and induce the mind to. serious 
contemplation, and religious reverence. In every direction the monu- 
ments of departed worth and excellence gleam upon the sight; every ob- 
ject tends to point to the final state of all mundane grandeur; and impels 
the mind to look beyond the tomb for that permanency of being and hap- 
piness, which in the natural constitution of things cannot exist here. 

“« It would carry us far beyond the limits of this work were we to no- 
tice every interesting object connected with this venerable edifice. St. 
Philip’s Church is the most ancieut of those now standing here. It was 
founded in 1711. Divine service was performed init in 1723. The main 
body of the Church was finished 1728, and the steeple in 1733.” 


* This organ was removed about a year since, and another, manufactured by Mr. 
Erben of New-York, of magnificent appearance and exquisit tone, placed in its stead. 


hee, 
Cah ih & 


